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Hyundai hoping for a Super Bowl victory

Hyundai Motor Co. is hoping that five television spots before and duringthe Feb. 5 Super Bowl game will help to bolster its rising brandrecognition and continue big sales gains from the past few years.

Hyundai Motor Co. is hoping that five television spots before and during the Feb. 5 Super Bowl game will help to bolster its rising brand recognition and continue big sales gains from the past few years.

North American CEO John Krafcik says the fast-growing brand is working on a 60-second spot that will run right before kickoff, plus two ads on the pregame show and two during the first and third quarters of the game.

He wouldn’t say how much the Korean automaker is spending on the ads, which will compete with the most creative spots American companies have to offer during one of television’s highest-rated and most expensive sporting events.

Last year Super Bowl ads cost companies about $3 million for 30 seconds.

Chrysler Group LLC’s two-minute spot featuring rapper Eminem was among those that created the most Super Bowl buzz last year, and it helped kick off what has been a strong sales year for the recovering company. The cinematic third-quarter ad showed Eminem driving through Detroit and introduced a new car, the Chrysler 200 sedan, amid gritty scenes of the city. A voiceover talked about how the city has survived going through “hell and back.”

Krafcik said Hyundai hopes to have standout spots as well, but it will focus more on a brand message rather than going for entertainment value.

“We’re competing with Doritos and Pepsi and Anheuser-Busch,” he said Friday at an auto show briefing for reporters at a technical centre near Ann Arbor, Mich. “Those are tough competitors from an entertainment point of view.”

Hyundai, he said, might have a little more fun with its ads this year and try to make them more memorable than in the past. But it’s also trying to sway about a third of the auto market that has a neutral view of the brand, which sells the Elantra compact, Sonata midsize car and Tucson crossover SUV, among other models.